How to deal with loneliness?

Loneliness involves a sense of being alone and isolated, as well as a sense of emptiness and disconnection from the people around us. In this way, loneliness is associated with the quality of current interpersonal relationships and their ability to make us feel emotionally and socially connected.

Most people, if not all, have, at some point in their lives, felt loneliness, since this is a universal experience. However, each person feels it in a unique and different way. Thus, the treatment can vary depending on how it originated and how it manifests in each one.

However, the intervention will always involve the establishment of affective relations of proximity. Here are some suggestions that can help you deal with these feelings of loneliness:

– It is important to know your loneliness, to realize in what contexts and situations it emerges with more intensity and in which disappears;

– Try to analyze the causes of loneliness, think about the moment of life that you are in and from what time these feelings arose;

– Loneliness interferes with the way we see ourselves and with the way we see the relationships we establish; it is important not to fall into the trap of this mental state;

– Remember that you are not your loneliness, you are much more than what you may be feeling right now; be kind to yourself;

– Keep in touch with other people, with your friends, or try participating in activities or groups of people with interests similar to yours; this is an important step in dealing with these feelings – establishing close relationships with others – and sometimes difficult to do because we may feel motivated to isolate ourselves even more (but it is fundamental to counteract this tendency, otherwise we will only feel more and more alone);

– Worry about other people, be empathetic and try to realize their suffering and their joys; you will feel closer and more welcomed; you can work voluntary, for example;

– Do not hesitate to seek psychological help, this may be the ideal way to deal with the feelings of loneliness, the associated distorted thoughts and the attitudes that can keep you in that state; so a psychologist can help you improve your well-being, when you do not realize the cause of your loneliness, or when there are prolonged moments of sadness, isolation, and lack of motivation. Specifically, Group Therapy can be a useful approach to dealing with loneliness by bringing together people with similar experiences and symptoms.

Keep in mind that the key to dealing with loneliness is establishing relationships of closeness and sharing – what is important is the quality of relationships rather than the quantity of relationships.